Monday, 22 September 2014

"Lethal Bizzle, Semtex, DJ Target and A.Dot take to the famous black chair and face a grilling from host John Humphrys."

Thanks to Dan 'Fluent' for this.

It's BBC1's Mastermind but with hip hop artists. And I use that term in it's loosest possible sense.
Be warned though, I wanted to throw my laptop at the wall in a furious rage at least 3 times whilst watching this.
Mastermind, my arse.

Some 'highlights' include:

John Humphrys: Which hip hop technique when vinyl records were cued were pioneered by Grandwizard Theodore?Lethal Bizzle: Pass.John
Humphrys: Which DJ, whose real name is Clive Campbell, is known for playing
hard funk records at house parties in the Bronx and is credited with
inventing the hip hop genre? Lethal Bizzle: Ahhhh...(pause)... pass.

Who the hootin' heck is Lethal Bizzle? And why he is included here is anybody's guess.

Friday, 19 September 2014

After a gap of a fair few months it's the return of Norwich's finest hip hop night, No Half Steppin'.

It takes place every 3rd Saturday of the month in the Rumsey Wells pub downstairs in the 'Underbelly'. Yes, that's right.

For the uninitiated, NHS is an evening of proper, classic beats and breaks, real hip hop, electro and funk played on real vinyl by Chrome and JUST-1. And now upon its return I shall be playing regularly - in fact I'm the special guest dj next month.

It's a free event which sometimes breaks out into a spontaneous MC cypher depending on who's in the house. Starts at 8pm and now ends at 1am.
If I see you there I'll buy you a drink. In fact you can buy ME a drink! I'm a well cheap date.

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

I really don't give you lot much notice about these things any more, do I? Maybe 'cos I'm a bit waaaaay, a bit woooo. Or maybe I'm just getting lazy.
Whatever the reason for my tardiness I just wanted to let you know that I'm on the radio tonight from 11pm playing a bit of classic hip hop, electro and breaks - then again if you know ABU then you know just what to expect.

Cripes, I haven't even posted any details about another event I'm involved with this weekend.
I really am too cool for school.
Soon come.

Thursday, 11 September 2014

Tonight on Disco Scratch radio sees the inaugural Takeover from Melbourne's own Boogie Down Under.
Hosted by Dayle, this is a new and exciting showcase of the best talent - old and new - of what Australia has to offer. It's been a while coming with various obstacles thrown in his way (hard drive crash with most of the show finished!) but Dayle is coming correct with what's sure to be a truly amazing show.

Catch it tonight via the Disco Scratch Radio page. Choose your preferred player and away you go.
Disco Scratch is a trluly interactive experience so why not join the chat and speak to other like-minded fans over at the chatroom page.

Sunday, 7 September 2014

I have tried to do this many times in the past but I soon realise how daunting this task actually is. Especially when I glance at my record shelves and let out an involuntary wince.
Of course there are songs that stay with you and will always stand the test of time but there is always something that catches you off guard and is a track that you've momentarily forgotten about that upon hearing it instantly gives you goosebumps. Or wood.

For now though I shall add Kid Frost's Terminator to the list.
I'm listening to it now as I type this and from the opening eerie synth sounds and vocoder, the hairs on the back of your neck instantly stand up. And you get wood.
What a great, great record.
I first heard this played by Mike Allen on his Capital Radio show one evening in 1985 and was smitten. As clear as day (and the fact I recorded it on cassette) I can still recall Mike playing it with his immortal words spoken over the intro....."this is Kid Frost...if you listen carefully you can hear the Sikorsky gunships.... be careful, he's out there...".The fact that this made it onto Electro volume 9 just sealed it's fate with me and that volume is the best of the series in my opinion. Not just because of Terminator, you understand, although that does play a large part. This was completely different to anything out there at the time and still holds up today. I love this.I shall end with this brilliant review from "gresty" which can be found on the Discogs website.

"There are so many great electro moments from this
period but if I had to name one track which epitomises it all it would
be 'Terminator'. Listening to it today, it still sounds as fresh and
tight as the day I bought it all those years ago. It stands head and
shoulders above 90% of electro from the mid-80's and I would say only a
handful of other tracks come close to it's genius (Mr. P, Synergy and
Ervin German spring to mind.) Frost's rapping is tough, intelligent and
original whilst the overall mood is dark and claustrophobic. Some of the
electronics used, the fizzing, clicking industrial sounds, are way
ahead of their time. One of the criticisms levelled at mid-80's rap is
that of it was too corny but this track is seriously cool."

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

As I said, it was a live show last Thursday rather than a pre-record.
The focus this month was on the breakbeats and the records that had sampled them. I tried to cover the main ones but time was against me and I missed one very important break out. I could've slipped it in at the end but that wouldn't have given it the right feeling. That would've been a sad injustice to a criminally-important song.
Anyhoo, there were a lot of other goodies in there including a section on the 'Mardi Gras' break where I played the 'no bells' version(!) and also uncovered the mystery 'noise' which is only heard right at the beginning during the actual break.

Next week sees the return proper of the weekly Disco Scratch Radio Show. Every week Waxer will be in the chair giving you the full funk rock-shock that we've been fiending for. It's a new day. The DS head-honcho has vowed that this is a new chapter.You may be aware that the DS Forum has now closed (due to lack of activity - mainly thanks to Facebook) which is sad but inevitable. I had a bit of a wobble about the ABU blog earlier in the year due to similar circumstances.
It's true that a lot more goes on on the ABU Facebook group than it does here. It's just so easy to post something on FB than it is on Blogger. And the audience is bigger.
If you want to know why I do then this should explain. I can post a video or question on the FB Group and I'll get comments within a few minutes. If I do the same here then I'll be lucky to get at least one reply in a week.
Again, sad but inevitable.

N.b. I was so caught up 'in the moment' that I inadvertently forgot to push the record button until 30 minutes into the show.

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The links to MP3 files provided in these posts are to be used for previewing only. AGEING B-BOYS UNITE ™ does not keep the files here, this Blog is merely a gateway, an Information Desk if you will, to point you in the right direction. Once downloaded, all files should be destroyed within 7 days.

well, Straight Outta Compton is alright. Some of CMW is cool as well.
Okay, amendment, Hater of MOST Gangsta Rap. But not those two, yeah?.

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